Nasarawa State Governor, Engineer Abdullahi Sule has vowed to justify the mandate given to him for another term in office by the people of state.
Engineer Sule made this known during his statewide address marking Nigeria’s and Nasarawa’s 63rd and 27th independence and creation anniversary respectively, on Sunday.
While using the opportunity to highlight on the achievements of his administration so far, the Governor pledged to consolidate on the commitment of his administration to turn around the fortunes of the state through the provision of infrastructural development, attraction of investment, agricultural development, educational advancement, public service transformation, amongst others.
He emphasized that the celebration of the creation of the state would not be complete without paying tribute to the founding fathers of the state who sacrificed their time, resources and energy towards ensuring the creation of Nasarawa State.
He restated the commitment of his administration to continue to work to ensure that the dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the state was not in vain.
As Nigeria celebrates her 63th independence anniversary, Engineer Sule called on the people to continue to support the efforts of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, whose administration is also consolidating on building sustainable development, peace and economic prosperity across the country.
“Let me, on behalf of the Government and good people of Nasarawa State, congratulate President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, President and Commander in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and, indeed, all Nigerians on the occasion of the 63rd Anniversary of our nationhood. I also congratulate the good people of Nasarawa State on the 27th Anniversary of the creation of the State,” he added.
For Nasarawa at 27, the Governor reminded the people about the collective desire for self-determination, economic empowerment and social cohesion that was the motivating factors for the creation of the state.
He stated the resolve of his administration to leverage on the contributions of successive administrations towards realizing the dreams of the founding fathers of the state.
“My dear people of Nasarawa State, you would recall that in our commitment to continue to provide purposeful leadership, we sought for your mandate for the second term as Executive Governor of Nasarawa State. Convinced by our landmark achievements, you have responded to our call with your votes and entrusted us the leadership of our dear State for another term of four (4) years in order to consolidate on our strides for better Nasarawa State.
“I need to reiterate my resolve to continue to serve the State sincerely and with the fear of the Almighty. We shall do that with due diligence in line with our principles of accountability, transparency and prudent management of public resources. I assure you that the mandate given to us will continue to be justified. I must state that in everything we do, the dream of our founding fathers and the interest of the good people of Nasarawa State will continue to define our policies and programmes towards actualizing the Nasarawa State of our collective dream,” he stated.
On plans by the organized labour to embark on indefinite strike action to protest the hardship being experienced by Nigerians following the removal of the fuel subsidy, the Governor appealed to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to shelve its intended industrial action, as according to him, both the Federal and State governments are strategizing towards addressing the plight of workers.
Some of the highlights of the inroads recorded by the Engineer Sule administration so far include initiation of the Nasarawa State Cash Transfer Scheme, where beneficiaries receive the sum of N5,000 as stipend on monthly basis. While announcing plans to expand the scope of the beneficiaries, he announced that the stipend has also been increased to N7, 500 monthly.
In the area of education, the Governor restated the commitment of his administration to channel enormous resources towards enhancing the educational sector of the state.
“In this regard, we have facilitated the mass construction and rehabilitation of classroom blocks in our primary and secondary schools across the State. This is based on our conviction that conducive environment enhances effective teaching and learning.
“Similarly, we have employed about three thousand, five hundred (3,500) teachers into our State Secondary Schools. We also employed additional teaching and non-teaching staff in our State tertiary institutions. This is geared towards enhancing educational development of our dear State.
“In our commitment to encourage Science and Technical Education, we have established the Faculties of Engineering and Medicine in the Nasarawa State University, Keffi. I am informed that the University has released admissions into the new faculties for full take-off of the 2023/2024 academic activities,” he added.
In the area of roads construction, Engineer Sule said his administration has re-constructed the Al-makura and Abuja Streets roads to ensure interconnectivity of road network within the metropolis.
“We have also constructed the Burial Ground-Angwan Shalele-GRA-Bukan Ari roads. The construction of the dualization of Shendam-Akurba road is almost completed to give our State capital a befitting outlook. I am happy to inform you that we have approved the renovation of Lafia East street road with storm water control to reduce the tendency of flood in the area. In the same vein, several urban and inter-Local Government roads in Akwanga, Keffi etc have been either completed or ongoing,” he explained.
Other achievements recorded by the administration are absorption of 1000 casual workers into the state civil service with permanent employment status, approval for the allocation of the residential quarters occupied by civil servants on owner-occupier basis, with another 300 housing units in Luvu (Masaka) ready to be allocated to workers through mortgage financing.
He assured that promotions of all cadres of civil servants, including backlog have been sequentially addressed with the corresponding financial implication being religiously worked out for implementation, in order to avoid further accumulation.
In the area of health, the Governor announced that the Nasarawa State Health Insurance Agency (NSHIA) would soon commence enrolling additional beneficiaries from the informal sector, particularly indigent and vulnerable persons as part of the palliative measures aimed at cushioning the impact of the oil subsidy removal.
As part of the activities marking the 27th anniversary of the state, Engineer Sule announced the pardon of 20 prison inmates, in line with the constitutional provision, as well as the prerogative of mercy.